Woes of EMI

The Pink Floyd case is the latest headache for the music giant controlled by
Guy Hand’s Terra Firma.

In February the company reported record losses of £1.8bn last year leaving it in desperate need of a £120m cash injection to stave off lender Citigroup from taking control of the business.

This month, EMI sold its prestigious Olympic Sound Studios – where the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin recorded some of their most famous tracks – for around £3.5m in a bid to reduce the size of its £2.6bn debt mountain.

However, the company has insisted that it will not sell its world famous Abbey Road Studio but it is in talks with third-party investors to help it finance a "revitalisation" of the North London complex.

EMI was taken over by Terra Firma Capital Partners in August 2007 who bought the company for £3.2 billion after declining sales. Several artists have since left the famous British label, including Paul McCartney and Radiohead.